Gaius Valerius Flaccus

Gaius Valerius Flaccus (English: /ˈflækəs/; died c. AD 90) was a 1st century Roman poet who flourished during the "Silver Age" under the Flavian dynasty, and wrote a Latin Argonautica that owes a great deal to Apollonius of Rhodes' more famous epic.

The only widely accepted mention of Gaius Valerius Flaccus by his contemporaries is by Quintilian (10.1.90), who laments the recent death of "Valerius Flaccus" as a great loss; as Quintilian's work was finished about 90 AD, this traditionally gives a limit for the death of Flaccus. Recent scholarship, however, puts forward an alternative date of about 95AD, and definitely before the death of Domitian in 96AD.

It has been claimed that he was a member of the College of Fifteen, who had charge of the Sibylline books, based on a reference in his work to the presence of a tripod in a "pure home" (1.5). The assumption that this indicates he himself was a member, however, has also been contested.

A contested mention of a poet of the name "Valerius Flaccus" is by Martial (1.76), who refers to a native of Padua. A subscription in the Vatican manuscript adds the name Setinus Balbus, a name which suggests that its holder was a native of Setia in Latium, however it is not clear if this inscription refers to "Valerius Flaccus" or someone else. The connection of this "Valerius Flaccus" to Gaius Valerius Flaccus has been contested under the assumption that Martial was referring to the friend's financial strife, and that Gaius Valerius Flaccus was a member of the College of Fifteen, and therefore likely to have been wealthy.

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